Editing Pankration (section)

==History==
[[File:07Delphi Aghias.jpg|thumb|A statue of Agias, son of Acnonius, and winner of the pankration in three [[Panhellenic Games]]. This statue occupies Position III of the [[ex voto of Daochos]]. Height: 2 metres (6 feet 7 inches). ]]
In [[Greek mythology]], it was said that the heroes [[Heracles]] and [[Theseus]] invented pankration as a result of using both wrestling and boxing in their confrontations with opponents. Theseus was said to have used pankration to defeat [[Cercyon of Eleusis]] in a wrestling match, as one of his labours on the sea route to Athens, as well as the [[minotaur]] in the [[labyrinth]]. Heracles too was often depicted in ancient artworks subduing the [[Nemean lion]] using pankration.<ref name="Pankration - A Historical Look at the Original Mixed-Martial Arts Competition"/>
In this context, pankration was also referred to as {{lang|grc-Latn|pammachon}} or {{lang|grc-Latn|pammachion}} ({{lang|grc|πάμμαχον}} or {{lang|grc|παμμάχιον}}), meaning "total combat", from {{lang|grc|πᾶν-}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|pān-}}, "all-" or "total", and {{lang|grc|μάχη}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|machē}}, "matter". The term {{lang|grc-Latn|pammachon}} is older,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dervenis |first=Kostas |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1085169623 |title=The Martial Arts of Ancient Greece: Modern Fighting Techniques from the Age of Alexander |date=2007 |publisher=Inner Traditions International, Limited |others=Nektarios Lykiardopoulos, Michael J. Pantelides |isbn=978-1-59477-740-0 |location=Rochester |pages=chapter 2 |oclc=1085169623}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book
|first=Michael |last=Poliakoff |isbn=9783445024879
|title=Studies in the Terminology of Greek Combat Sport
|date=1986 |location=Frankfurt |publisher=Hain
}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2016}} and would later become used less than the term {{lang|grc-Latn|pankration}}.

The mainstream academic view has been that pankration developed in the archaic Greek society of the 7th century BC, whereby, as the need for expression in violent sport increased, pankration filled a niche of "total contest" that neither boxing nor wrestling could.<ref>Poliakoff, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=e2EyPI8X8FMC Combat Sport in the Ancient World]'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207203012/https://books.google.com/books?id=e2EyPI8X8FMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0 |date=7 February 2022 }}</ref> However, some evidence suggests that pankration, in both its sporting form and its combative form, may have been practiced in Greece already from the second millennium BC.<ref name="Pankration - An Olympic Combat Sport">{{cite web|url=http://www.pankration.info/|title=Pankration – An Olympic Combat Sport|last=Georgiou|first=Andreas V.|website=pankration.info|access-date=11 January 2016|archive-date=22 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130422094452/http://www.pankration.info/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Pankration, as practiced in historical antiquity, was an athletic event that combined techniques of both [[Ancient Greek boxing|boxing]] ({{lang|grc-Latn|pygmē}}/{{lang|grc-Latn|pygmachia}} – {{lang|grc|πυγμή}}/{{lang|grc|πυγμαχία}}) and [[Greek wrestling|wrestling]] ({{lang|grc-Latn|palē}} – {{lang|grc|πάλη}}), as well as additional elements, such as the use of strikes with the legs, to create a broad fighting sport similar to today's [[mixed martial arts]] competitions. There is evidence that, although knockouts were common, most pankration competitions were decided on the basis of submission (yielding to a submission or joint lock).{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} Pankratiasts were highly skilled [[Grappling|grapplers]] and were extremely effective in applying a variety of [[Takedown (grappling)|takedowns]], [[Chokehold|chokes]] and [[joint lock]]s. In extreme cases a pankration competition could even result in the death of one of the opponents, which was considered a win for the surviving combatant.

However, pankration was more than just an event in the athletic competitions of the ancient Greek world; it was also part of the arsenal of Greek soldiers – including the famous [[Sparta]]n [[hoplite]]s and [[Alexander the Great]]'s [[Macedonian phalanx]]. It is said that the [[Sparta]]ns at the [[Battle of Thermopylae]] fought with their bare hands and teeth once their swords and spears broke.<ref>Philostratus, ''Gymnastikos 11''</ref> [[Herodotus]] mentions that in the [[battle of Mycale]] between the Greeks and the [[Persians]] in 479 BC, those of the Greeks who fought best were the Athenians, and the Athenian who fought best was a distinguished pankratiast, Hermolycus, son of Euthynus.<ref>Herodotus, ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.%209.105&lang=original The Histories]'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206230712/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.%209.105&lang=original |date=6 February 2021 }}, 9.105</ref> Polyaemus describes King [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]], the father of Alexander the Great, practicing with another pankratiast while his soldiers watched.<ref name="Pankration - A Historical Look at the Original Mixed-Martial Arts Competition"/>

[[File:Pancratist Amphora, by the Berlin Painter - Red Figure.jpg|left|thumb|Pankratiasts represented on a [[Panathenaic amphora]], c.490 BC, [[Staatliche Museum]].]]
The feats of the ancient pankratiasts became legendary in the annals of Greek athletics. Stories abound of past champions who were considered invincible beings. [[Arrhichion]], [[Dioxippus]], [[Polydamas of Skotoussa]] and [[Theogenes]] (often referred to as Theagenes of Thasos after the first century AD) are among the most highly recognized names. Their accomplishments defying the odds were some of the most inspiring of ancient Greek athletics and they served as inspiration to the Hellenic world for centuries, as [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]],<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L093.pdf Description of Greece] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723125709/https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L093.pdf |date=23 July 2020 }}</ref> the ancient traveller and writer indicates when he re-tells these stories in his narrative of his travels around Greece.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

[[Dioxippus]] was an Athenian who had won the Olympic Games in 336 BC, and was serving in Alexander the Great's army in its expedition into Asia. As an admired champion, he naturally became part of the circle of [[Alexander the Great]]. In that context, he accepted a challenge from one of Alexander's most skilled soldiers named [[Coragus]] to fight in front of Alexander and the troops in armed combat. While Coragus fought with weapons and full armour, Dioxippus showed up armed only with a club and defeated Coragus without killing him, making use of his pankration skills. Later, however, Dioxippus was framed for theft, which led him to commit suicide.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

In an odd turn of events, a pankration fighter named [[Arrhichion]] ({{lang|grc|Ἀρριχίων}}) of [[Phigalia]] won the pankration competition at the Olympic Games despite being dead. His opponent had locked him in a chokehold and Arrhichion, desperate to loosen it, broke his opponent's toe (some records say his ankle). The opponent nearly passed out from pain and submitted. As the referee raised Arrhichion's hand, it was discovered that he had died from the [[chokehold]]. His body was crowned with the olive wreath and returned to Phigaleia as a hero.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brophy |first=Robert H. |date=1978 |title=Deaths in the Pan-Hellenic Games: Arrachion and Creugas |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/293747 |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=99 |issue=3 |pages=363–390 |doi=10.2307/293747 |jstor=293747 |pmid=16411322 |issn=0002-9475|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

By the [[Roman Empire|Imperial Period]], the Romans had adopted the Greek combat sport (spelled in Latin as {{lang|la|pancratium}}) into their Games.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Pancratium.html |title=Pancratium |first=Leonhard |last=Schmitz |pages=857‑858 |encyclopedia=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities |editor=John Murray |location=London |year=1875 |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601203604/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA%2A/Pancratium.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 393 AD, the pankration, along with gladiatorial combat and all pagan festivals, was abolished by [[edict]] by the Christian Byzantine Emperor [[Theodosius I]].

[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] mentions the wrestler Leontiscus ({{lang|grc|Λεοντίσκος}}) from [[Messina|Messene]]. He wrote that Leontiscus's technique of wrestling was similar to the pankration of Sostratus the Sicyonian because Leontiscus didn't know how to throw his opponents; he won by bending their fingers instead.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-grc1:6.4.3| title = Pausanias, Description of Greece, 6.4.3| access-date = 21 February 2021| archive-date = 21 October 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201021023353/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-grc1:6.4.3| url-status = live}}</ref>